Maia Dunphy: Being a mum is mum tougher than I thought

Broadcaster Maia Dunphy has admitted being a mum is much tougher than she anticipated.

The RTE presenter, who is married to comedian Johnny Vegas, gave birth to her son Tom two months ago and is still "knackered".

"I was a bit naIve, I thought I'll have the baby and be back at work after four weeks off, but after a month you can still hardly breathe," she told the Herald.

"I never understood it when my friends said there were days when you can't even get a shower, but there were times when it was four o'clock and I was still in my dressing gown and hadn't had a cup of tea.

Lonely

"But it's all good and Tom is just lovely, and we are happy," she added.

The Dalkey native is back in Ireland to promote her new Reality Bites shows on RTE2.

One episode relates to childbirth while the other focuses on Irish people living in London.

"I did the voiceovers this week and I really wasn't at my best, I was exhausted," she said.

"I was stumbling over words - it's only when you sit down and try to concentrate that you realise how tired you are."

Maia (39) admits living in the English capital can be "lonely" at times.

"The last few months in London have been quite tough and lonely, it's hard to be at home with a new baby in a different city," she said.

"My mam was amazing, she was with me for the first five weeks, and Johnny is just brilliant.

"He's a night owl, so he helps a lot with the night shifts," she added.

Like other celebrities such as Jennifer Maguire, the couple have yet to release a picture of their new bundle of joy.

"People think that you're deliberately provocative or secretive and that we're gearing up to do a big mother and baby shoot in a magazine, but we're not," she said.

"With a baby, there's something so precious about it and he didn't choose to be in the public eye. It'd be nice to show him off though and we might share one picture - most people just want to see him," she added.

Maia was speaking at the launch of David Gillick's new book, David Gillick's Kitchen.